Destiny's Fickle Wishes
by RandomTopic
Summary: FE9/10 and FE7 crossover. “I am Lyn, of the Lorca. Do you remember your name?” “Soren.”
1. Chapter 1: The Conversations

Title: Destiny's Fickle Wishes

Chapter: 1

Author: Random

Fandom: Fire Emblem 9/10

Summary: FE9/10 and FE7 crossover "I am Lyn, of the Lorca. Do you remember your name?" "Soren."

Pairings: Undecided.

Chapter Rating: G

Genre: General, Adventure

WARNING: I have not played FE10, but I will use the whatever I know in this fic, as well as make up what I don't. Some violence, and maybe unintentional OOCness as Ranulf is difficult to write.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Ike or Ranulf or any one of the bird tribe, but alas, I do not.

Notes: Inspired by by misken67's "The Magvel Chronicles." Written with permission. And not all chapters will be written in dialogue form only, just this chapter. Chapters will be longer after this. Format mistakes are due to .

Recommended Music: "Night Reconnaissance," by Dresden Dolls

**EDIT:** Put in the title before the conversations. The characters are the ones in the conversations. (Hope that clears things up for you misken67. And added a bit about the ship, but more details will come later... And, because I think it would be better, put both conversations on the same chapter for the prologue.

* * *

**The First Conversation: Ike and Soren**

"Soren... May I come in?"

"Of course, Ike."

"Soren, I'm leaving."

"Oh. Well then, we're going to need supplies. How long and far of a journey?"

"... I want to leave Tellius, Soren. Yune told me that there are probably other lands out there... I want to go to them."

"Hm. Very well. In that case, we should be cautious with rations, weapons too, if we land in a hostile area, and... do you have a ship in mind we could travel on, Ike?"

"Yes, I do. Kurthnaga told me that he has a boat that doesn't need a full crew to sail... it's small for a ship, but would be large enough for us. It doesn't have any sails, but instead runs with Goldoan technology and magic. We can set it to one direction, and it'll keep going that direction."

"... Ike, how certain are you about the ship?"

"I was rather dubious about it too, but Kurthnaga said we can check it out first. It seems like our best bet, if we don't want to hire an entire crew."

"Hm. Alright, we'll test it out and then decide.

* * *

**The Second Conversation: Ranulf and Ike**

"Hey! Ike!"

"Ranulf? What are you doing in Crimea?"

"I heard rumor that you're planning on leaving Tellius."

"Heard from who?"

"From... shadows, if you will."

"Hm. Well, you heard right."

"By yourself?"

"No, Soren will be coming with me."

"Ah, your tactician. That's good."

"... What's with that look?"

"Ah, nothing! I was simply worried for your safety after you leave."

"Hm."

"... What's with _that _look, Ike?"

"Ranulf, why did you really come here?"

"You're no fun. I didn't even get to the part where only two people are going off into the vast sea to look for lands that might not even exist."

"Ranulf..."

"Oh, fine. I want to come with you."

"Why?"

"Why? Oh, that hurts. Don't you want my company?"

"Well, it's fine you want to come, I can't think of a reason to protest. But you'd be leaving all of your friends and family. Skrimir certainly would miss you as his second-in-command."

"So you'll let me come?"

"Why do you want to?"

"...Do you remember that conversation we had? When we were getting closer to Crimea's capital?"

"When you told me not to trust everyone? Yeah, I do."

"Well, I trust you too. But I don't trust you not to do something _dumb_ still and get yourself killed. So I want to come to keep an eye on you."

"Oh. Alright."

"'Alright'? That's it?"

"Sure."

"... Alright, then. I have to go back to Gallia to say good-bye, but I'll be back in a week. Is that good?"

"That's fine."

"Good. Bye, Ike!"

"... He wants to come to keep an eye on me... heh. Oh! I need to tell Soren... dang."

**End Chapter**

* * *

Reviews are nice and inspire me. Constructive criticism will make me give your an invisible cookie.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2: Too Many Farewells

Title: Destiny's Fickle Wishes

Chapter: 2

Author: Random

Fandom: Fire Emblem 9/10

Summary: FE9/10 and FE7 crossover "I am Lyn, of the Lorca. Do you remember your name?" "Soren."

Pairings: Undecided, but hints of Naesala/Leanne, Boyd/Mist, Rhys/Mia, Ashnard/Almedha and more, if you squint.

Chapter Rating: G, pretty much.

Genre: General, Adventure

WARNING: I have not played FE10, but I will use the whatever I know in this fic, as well as make up what I don't. Some violence, and maybe unintentional OOCness as Ranulf is difficult to write.

Disclaimer: I wish I owned Ike or Ranulf or any one of the bird tribe, but alas, I do not.

Notes: This chapter is a much better length than the previous. I hope I did Ranulf justice. I think there are too many people saying goodbye, but Ike knows a bunch of people, a lot of whom would want to see him off. Also, I abuse parentheses. I think Soren is the type of guy who think one thing and be kinda thinking a million other things. Thus, parentheses.

Recommended Music: "The Greyhound," by Heather Dale (seriously the best song to listen to at the last part of this chapter).

**EDIT**: This is now chapter two as I just combined the first two chapters so only ONE chapter has only dialogue.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Too Many Farewells**

And thus, a scene of farewell. Soren could see Mist crying, with Boyd wrapping her awkwardly in a one-armed hug. Oscar and Rolf were both saying their farewells to Ike. Shinon and Gatrie had said their gruff good-byes earlier and were milling behind the others. Mia seemed to want one more fight with Ike, but Rhys restrained her (Soren thought his eyes were a little watery). Titania visibly struggled to contain her tears, but a few leaked out anyway.

Soren thought that he saw Volke slipping through the shadows, but he wasn't certain. (But knowing Volke, Soren knew that he was somewhere nearby.)

They had all said good-bye to Soren, and he had gotten hugs as well. Not nearly as many as Ike, but Soren couldn't be bothered by that. Not while he was watching Ranulf be hugged to death by Skrimir and Kyza (both of whom decided to see him off).

Many others were there too. Elincia, Geoffrey, Bastian and Lucia were there, but their farewells were much more formal than any of the mercenaries'.

Others had come and gone. Tibarn, Ulki, Janaff, the Heron Siblings, and Naesala (who had probably come only at Leanne's request) had stopped by for a while, then had to return to the Bird Laguz Kingdom. Soren had thought Lethe and Lyre would come to say their farewells to Ranulf, but they had done so when Ranulf was making final preparations for the trip while in Gallia.

For some reason, Kurthnaga and Almedha were there. They politely gave their farewells to the three of them, and then stood (rather far) to the side, and Soren couldn't figure out why they were still there.

He could remember Nasir saying, after Ashnard had been killed and Ena and Nasir were going to leave, that dragon laguz hate long good-byes. "We all know they'll come, especially with beorcs, and we just don't want to prolong the misery. We all live for so long," he explained, "so we're bound to experience quite a large amount of misery in our lives."

So why were Kurthnaga and Almedha there?

Furthermore, why was Kurthnaga glancing at Soren every minute interval?

Did he have something to say to Soren? If it were pertinent to their journey, he would just go right to Ike to tell him, but since he had not, it must be something for Soren alone... and from the Dragon King, it must be important.

Soren walked around the crowd, unnoticed, to Kurthnaga and Almedha.

Kurthnaga seemed relieved; so Soren was right. He had something to say to Soren. Almedha, Soren noticed, seem to struggle between being relieved and inexplicably anxious.

Soren had a sinking feeling he wouldn't enjoy this conversation.

"Soren," said Kurthnaga, and the sinking feeling increased, "I'm glad you came over here."

"It was rather difficult to ignore your glances," Soren replied curtly.

Kurthnaga smiled. "Forgive me if it bothered you, but we have something to tell you before you leave."

"What is it?" This question was nearly as curt or sharp as Soren would have liked. Almedha now was looking even _more_ anxious than before, and Soren felt at a loss to think of any explanation.

Kurthnaga's eyes moved to stare at the rather large group near them, and pulled out a piece of paper to hand to Soren. It read:

_Pelleas is not the son of Ashnard and Almedha. _

_You are._

"We wanted you to know before you left," Almedha whispered quietly. "Just in case we didn't get another chance."

"Thank you for telling me," muttered Soren. "I..." _What do I say?_

Kurthnaga said, louder than the whispers, "Please take this on your journey," and handed Soren a rather small bottle filled with a bright and opaque liquid. "It's a rather potent elixir, for an emergency. Use it for fatal injuries." Soren nodded, and turned away.

They were both gone when he looked back.

Another twenty minutes until Ike, Soren and Ranulf boarded the ship provided by Kurthnaga (and Almedha, too, Soren thought).

All of them, even Soren, waved to the people on the shore until they were merely specks in the distance.

* * *

They headed west.

This was simply because finding a small, reclusive port on the west side of Tellius was easier than trekking across the continent.

Soren had predicted, that, if they kept to a rather straight line west, they would run into something or see something eventually. This vagueness had frightened Mist and Titania, but calmed when Soren had mused further, "If there are no lands, we'll just run into Tellius' east side."

The expression on Ike's face had teased, _You've gotten softer._

Soren had admitted to himself that maybe he had.

* * *

It was very quiet, on the ocean.

Which, Soren supposed, was an oxymoron. The waves slapped the ship in rhythm, the winds howled like those of the wolf laguz, and fish would jump from the water randomly. (Ike said, "Is it just me, or do the fish seem angry?")

No, the ocean was not quiet at all.

And Soren also thought that their ship would be quiet too; Ike and he never wasted words, and they had long decided to proceed in as straight a line as they could. Between Ike and Soren, things would be quiet and peaceful.

But Ranulf was there.

Soren hadn't minded when Ike told him Ranulf would be joining them. Soren considered Ranulf to be rather intelligent.

But he was chatty.

He constantly talked to Ike and Soren (with the latter it was rather one-sided); Soren knew that Ranulf was eighty-seven years old, which was a young adult for the beast tribe; his parents had bright green 'fur' and indigo 'fur' ("They have no idea where I got my fur color," Ranulf explained.); he grew in the northern part of Gallia ("I saw Crimeans a lot," Ranulf said, "so I was never able to understand my kin's hatred of them."); and he loved fish.

But he absolutely abhorred using fishing nets.

"It ruins the fun of catching fish," Ranulf complained to Soren one day. "In Gallia, we would wait at the bank of a river, and sweep a fish up with our lightning reflexes! Here, we just sit around and wait for the fish to get themselves caught in the net."

"Hm," Soren responded.

"Hm, indeed," and Ranulf quieted, ears and tail twitching. He gazed far out to the sea, eyes narrowed, and it took five minutes for what Ranulf was looking at to be visible for Soren.

"Ike," Soren called, "there's a storm up ahead, approaching very quickly."

"Which direction do you suggest we take?" Ike inquired, as he went to the ship's center where there was a platform and a steering wheel, which could be locked into place, thus setting the ship to that direction.

(It occurred to Soren that perhaps the ship was intended for dragon use, and it was Soren's presence that allowed things to run as smoothly as they did. But an inspection of the equipment did nothing to back that hypothesis, so he banished it to the back of his mind.)

(The back of his mind was also where he banished the idea of informing Ike and Ranulf of his parents' identity. Soren still needed to think it through.)

But the ship, like all ships, it had its limits, so the three of them decided to head northwest, as the storm was coming from the southwest.

It was unfortunate that none of them were familiar with currents.

They moved unbearably slowly; Soren noted this and tried to get the ship to move faster, but to no avail. The current was too forceful.

Ranulf, with the fur of his tail on end, watched the approaching storm with a wary eye. "Should we stay below deck or stay above?"

"Above," Soren said, but not entirely certain, "so we won't get trapped if the ship sinks. We'll take cover under the awning of the cabin."

Ranulf's tail twitched, again. "We're going to get wet," he muttered loud enough for both Ike and Soren to hear. "We're going to get so wet," he repeated but he went to the area covered by an awning anyway.

"It would be a good idea to secure ourselves to the ship," Soren said as the thought occurred to him, "so high winds won't knock us off. But we should all carry knives so we can cut the rope."

"I'll get the ropes," Ike said and went down to a lower floor.

He promptly returned with three thick ropes, and they all tied them to the center mast on the ship.

(The mast was strange. It didn't any sails, and it curved until it _almost_ touched the top of the cabin at the back which led to the floors below. The were two other masts, but they had nothing on them, and might have been for flags, at some point.)

"This is going to be a really bad storm..." Ranulf murmured.

"You can sense it?" Ike asked. Ranulf nodded and glanced at them with one (purple) eye.

"It's not so much as the storm itself, but... the air. There's so much pressure in the air and so much motion. In Gallia," Ranulf explained, "we often get showers, but very light. And so the air is pretty light. Nothing compared to Crimea and Begnion, but still light compared to this." A vague hand motion to the dark cloud that were nearly on top of them. "And I'm always thought the air in Crimea and Begnion was too thin."

Ike leaned against the wall of the entrance to the lower floors. "What about Daein?"

"It's a different type of pressure," Ranulf crossed his arms. For the first time since Soren had known him, he was wearing a robe, and crossing his arms pulled it tighter around his body. "Daein is really cold, and they get snowstorms, which is a much different kind of pressure in the air. It's a little calmer, but the energy is still there... I don't really know how to describe it."

"Hm, that's alright, I get the idea," Ike responded. The wind was harsh now, throwing itself at them like a flinging body. Soren felt the first haze of droplets splatter against his face, giving it a sheen of wetness.

Then the winds changed. The rain got harsher. The winds changed again. Soren could feel the boat struggle beneath him, to keep pressing northwest, but seemed to be still in the mass crosswinds.

Light flooded the ship, and for a moment, Soren could see Ranulf's distressed expression. A boom followed not a second later.

"Soren," Ike called, yelling over the howls of the wind, "this storm is only getting worse!"

"I know, Ike!" Soren called and added nothing else. His mind frantically searched for what they could do-

"Can everyone swim?" Ranulf yelled to them.

"Well enough," Ike said while Soren said, "Yes."

"Well enough won't be enough, Ike. We all need to make sure we had something that can float!" And with that, he cut his rope and disappeared the the lower floor.

Soren thought they would be okay, and get through the storm. And later, he still thought they would have, had there not been a fault in the ship.

The fault was minor. One piece of wood was not properly in place on the left side of the ship, near the front. While in most cases, this wouldn't have meant an ill fate on a journey, against the harsh waves during the storm weaken it - and, in turn, the boards around it - until water began flooding the ship.

"The ship's flooding!" Ranulf _screamed_ when he came to the deck, carrying three large, pale vests. "Take these! They float!"

"Cut your rope," Ike yelled as he did just that to his own. Soren followed shortly after, grabbing one of vests for himself. They all put on a vest; it was rather large, but Soren thought he'd be able to swim in it, if it came to that.

The ship sank. They hadn't noticed before, but they did now. Slowly but surely, they waited until they had to leave the ship, trying to see if there would be an end to the storm, to see if there was any land nearby. They silently grabbed necessities and food that wouldn't be destroyed by the water and put them in small bags they could secure around their waists.

Ranulf pulled a small boat (a lifeboat, if Soren remembered what Nasir had called them) from below, and they put more food in it.

"Soren, Ranulf," Ike abrutly said, when water from the waves were lapping onto deck. "I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Ranulf cut him off. "We're not going to die."

Soren thought _Liar_ before he could stop himself and chose to say, "We chose to come. We _wanted_ to come."

Soren knew Ike knew what he wasn't saying.

They tethered themselves to one another before they went onto the lifeboat.

Before they pushed the lifeboat onto the water when the ship completely submerged, Soren thought, _We're going to die._

**End Chapter**

* * *

Okay, now for endnotes explanation.

Almedha and Kurthnaga told Soren (who I don't believe found out he was Ashnard's son in FE10, so I'm just going to say he didn't) about his parentage because they thought it would be their last chance, and Almedha just wanted her son to _know_. Whether or not it was the best decision didn't even come into the equation. (They gave him a note because beast laguz have really good hearing.)

I am not familiar with ships and how they work, so I made it up. This is a world where goddesses roam the land and can be defeated by mortals. Why not?

Ranulf strikes me as the type who'd talk a lot but never say anything useful. Also, his explanation about different air pressures is confusing, but supposed to be. I went off of what I've heard about people talking about determining the weather. Laguz are probably really sensitive to that. (But Ranulf did _see_ the storm first. Then felt it.)

Soren is being pessimistic at the end.


End file.
